substantial

UK/səbˈstænʃəl/US/səbˈstænʃəl/

adjectiveC13 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,447 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: substantially, substance

Substantial means big enough to be worth counting. A substantial meal, a substantial pay rise, substantial damage to the roof.

It is the word for size when you want to sound measured rather than excited — considerable is its nearest twin. It also means solidly built: a substantial oak table. Do not confuse it with substantive, a narrower word meaning dealing with the real matter rather than the procedure. The adverb substantially is heavily used to mean by a large amount, and also to mean essentially: substantially the same.

Definitions of substantial

1adjectivesubstantialLarge in amount or importance.C1~91%
“They were offered a substantial sum to leave quietly.”
synonyms: considerable, sizeable
2adjectivesolidlySolidly made; strong.C1~2%
“A substantial gate that will outlast the fence.”
3adjectiverealReal; having actual substance.C1~7%
“There is no substantial evidence either way.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 177 sentences found in the wild and placed 177 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Remember it

sub-STAN-tial → you can STAND on it

A table so solid you can stand on it in heavy boots and it does not even bend.

hooks ontostand

Where it comes from

From Latin substantia, substance — what stands underneath a thing. Something substantial has something under it, which is exactly why the word means both large and solid.

Latin
substantiālis
Old French
substanciel
Middle English
substancial
English, today
substantial

From Middle English substancial, substantiall, from Old French substanciel, substantiel and its etymon Latin substantiālis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Academic English

Practise this word

substantial in the wild

English composers Arthur Bliss, Edwin York Bowen, Benjamin Dale, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, Rebecca Clarke and Ralph Vaughan Williams all wrote substantial chamber and concert works.
Viola
The Russian Empire also included a substantial German population.
Germans
The individual elements are more easily handled by the construction workers, but the bridge also requires substantial support during construction.
Lattice truss bridge
While the concept of substantial forms dominates ancient Greek philosophy and medieval philosophy, it fell out of favor in modern philosophy.
Substantial form
So, the idea of substantial forms was abandoned for a mechanical, or "bottom-up" theory of organization.
Substantial form

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the substanciel family

substantial substantially

substantial — used about once every 939 pages · #4,447 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of substantial

1adjectivesubstantialLarge in amount or importance.C1~91%

“They were offered a substantial sum to leave quietly.”

synonyms: considerable, sizeable

2adjectivesolidlySolidly made; strong.C1~2%

“A substantial gate that will outlast the fence.”

3adjectiverealReal; having actual substance.C1~7%

“There is no substantial evidence either way.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 177 sentences found in the wild and placed 177 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.